WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 30, 2020) – Mount St. Mary's found their groove on offense Monday, but so did the Howard Bison, who shot over 50 percent from the floor. In a climatic finish, Mountaineer rallies came up short in an 87-83 defeat at Burr Gymnasium.
 
Six Mountaineers scored in double figures, led by Kendall Bresee with 16 points. The senior added seven rebounds to lead the team. Junior Taylor Addison followed with 15 points – a new career high for the forward. Kayla Agentowicz contributed 14 points and tied Jatarrikah Settle with four assists.
 
Foul trouble plagued the Mount, committing a total of 26. Three players – Bresee, Settle and Aryna Taylor – ended up fouling out.
 
Howard saw five players score in double digits. Jayla Thornton hit five treys and went a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe to lead all scorers with 26. Anzhane Hutton went 8-of-9 from the field to add 18 points. On defense the Bison earned 12 blocks, including three rejections each from Hutton and Kaiya Creek. The 87 points were the most a Mount team has surrendered since giving up 92 to Wagner on January 18, 2019.
 
The Bison jumped out to a 9-1 lead, firing on all cylinders. The duo of Hutton and Thornton took the charge and the Bison hit six of their first seven shots. Addison kept the Mount alive early, scoring the team's first pair of field goals. Free throws kept the Mount in early, and an 11-2 run capped by a Settle layup gave the Mountaineers a 17-16. That edge would be short lived though, as Howard finished as hot as they started with a 7-0 run to pull ahead by eight at the first break.
 
In the second quarter, Mount struggled out of the gate to close the gap, as they were inhibited by fouls and turnovers. Howard extended the lead to double digits with six minutes left. But that was as high as the advantage would go, as Mount slowly chipped away. Agentowicz started the retaliation with a trey at the 4:00 mark, and hit a clutch jumper two minutes later to cut the deficit. With 54 seconds left in the half, Michaela Harrison struck from downtown. The teams headed to the locker room deadlocked at 38.
 
It looked like Mount might take control early on in the third quarter, as Taylor and Agentowicz splashed back-to-back three's to give the visitors a four point lead. However a three minute scoring drought nullified the opportunity and Howard was able to surge ahead once again. Bresee hit a layup in the closing seconds to pull the Mount within two heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
Bridget Birkhead hit a layup in the opening seconds for the game's fourth tie. She backed it up with a three that gave the Mount the lead. From there the teams bounced back and forth for a time until Howard tried to take control. With three minutes and change the home side led by eight, when Birkhead again responded with a triple. Agentowicz drew fouls and hit her free throws to cut the game down to 77-74 with two minutes left.
 
Addison's layup kept the game within a possession and secured her career high, but Howard continued to hit clutch shots at every turn. Taylor stepped up and drove home a three to pull Mount within two at 81-79. The contest stayed there for a minute when Settle found the lane and put it home to tie the game for the fifth time at 81.
 
Howard called timeout with 21 seconds to play, looking to setup the game winner. One second later, Settle was saddled with her fifth personal, and then received a technical foul. The Bison hit three of their four foul shots to go up 85-81. Although Addison would add a layup, the four point lead proved insurmountable. Two more free throws by the Bison would ice the contest.
 
Mount St. Mary's returns home Wednesday to open their 2020-21 home schedule against Coppin State. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. in Emmitsburg, and the game is streamed live on NECFrontRow.com.